My favourite quote is from Juliana of Norwich, a 15th Century English mystic who wrote “the greatest honour you can give almighty God greater than all your sacrifices and mortifications, is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love”. This thought has always given me a whole new perspective in practising my faith as it always helped me to freshen my prayer with joy. I am no saint, nor will I ever be. Sometimes I am blunt to the point of rudeness and I find myself ready to “throw” a boulder at those who “throw” stones at me. I am human. To my consternation though, I hear that very few people are attending Mass every Sunday. More and more people are inclined to feed their bellies with good food but forget that Mass is the food for the soul. We can only deepen our prayer life by going to Mass, to know God live in a real and vivid way. Through prayer, which is defined as essentially a conversation with God, one might say that it is our personal way of giving ourselves to God. This can be done with or without words in a place of worship or in the silence of our heart as we go about our daily work. In a recent survey followed by the church, it was established that 47 per cent of Malta’s population does not go to Mass every Sunday. What a pity. Maybe these people consider it a long box or a meaningless formalism or a mere aesthetic experience. Mass for the Christian is an unfathomable mystery of faith. We must therefore, not seek to reduce it to our own human categories. Mass is at the very heart of our supernatural destiny and is for the Christian the inexhaustible and unique source of salvation, for it makes present again the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Through it, Jesus Christ pours out the blessings of the new creation on the world. Why in this modern day of technology have we made such progress, yet where God is concerned we have regressed?

All through my life, especially the last 15 years, I have been through three personal traumas. God and especially Mass have been my salvation. Inner peace has not escaped me, only because I make Mass the first priority in my life.

It is stupid stating that one can pray at home and that going to Mass is as boring as watching paint dry for hours on end. Only through the Eucharist can the death and resurrection of Christ cease to be merely a historical event situated in the distant past. Through the Eucharist, Jesus Christ ceases to be identifiable with a particular country or race or social class or historical period.

Jesus Christ and his sacrifice are made contemporary by the sacrifice of Mass and the Eucharist. There is absolutely no justification why the Maltese have made an astounding decline with regard to Mass.

In Malta, we are surrounded by churches. Sadly, I note that it is no wonder that marriages break up, delinquents are on the increase and quarrels mount to people using weapons on each other. God has become non-existent!

How earth shattering! How on earth have people allowed themselves to become spiritual dwarfs? I have come to realise that a Mass everyday before work helps me to face the day with relish. I have not become bedazzled by certain technological accomplishments so that I forget to look to the God to whom all glory belongs. I come to the end by recounting the morning prayer of Mother Theresa and her co-workers:

I have come to thee to take thy touch before I begin my day.

Let your eyes rest upon my eyes for a while.

Let me take to my work with assurance of your friendship.

Fill my mind to last through the desert of noise.

Let your blessed sunshine fill the peaks of my thoughts and give me strength for those who need me. Amen.

Thank you dearest nun for you have thought me the importance of the Mass.

Valerie Borg

Valletta